The officials implicated in the hiring scandal are no longer working at the Justice Department, making punishment difficult.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, fired back at Mukasey's remarks: "The attorney general, the nation's top law enforcement officer, seems intent on insulating this administration from accountability."

A report unveiled at the end of July was the second of a four-part Department of Justice investigation into its internal hiring practices. The Justice Department released its first report on misconduct within the agency on June 24. That report pointed out the Department’s bias against those with liberal ideologies.

The more recent report focused on the illegal work of senior officials, particularly former Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales’s senior counselor, Monica Goodling, and chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. They will most likely avoid punishment now.

In one example of misconduct, “An experienced counterterrorism prosecutor … was kept from advancing in favor of a more junior lawyer who lacked a background in terrorism,” because his wife was a notable local Democrat, according to The Carpetbagger Report.

At interviews, Goodling also asked candidates questions like, “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” and “Aside from the president, give us an example of someone currently or recently in public service who you admire.”

The report also says that Goodling fired U.S. Attorney Leslie A. Hagen because she believed Hagen was a lesbian.

The scandal dates back to 2006, when Atty. Gen. Gonzales was implicated in the department’s dismissal of U.S. attorneys. He resigned in 2007 after allegedly committing perjury when he testified before Congress about government surveillance programs.

Muksay has announced he will not pursue criminal charges against thsoe in the Justice Department implicated with hiring impropriety. He said, "The officials most directly implicated in the misconduct left the department to the accompaniment of substantial negative publicity" and, "Their misconduct has now been laid bare by the Justice Department for all to see."

On June 24, the Justice Department released a report “indicating that, under the Bush administration, the department hired Republicans over more-qualified Democrats and liberals,” findingDulcinea reported.

On Dec. 7, 2005, the Justice Department fired seven U.S. Attorneys. Several more resigned under pressure within a few months. U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales defended the dismissals, but the scandal continued into 2007. U.S. News & World Report provides a timeline of the U.S. attorney dismissal controversy, from Jan. 2005 to March 2007.

In Aug. 2007, The New York Times reported on the resignation of Atty. Gen. Gonzales, the first person of Hispanic heritage to hold the position. Gonzales’ term as attorney general had been fraught with controversy, including the firing of U.S. attorneys at the end of 2006, and accusations that he committed perjury in front of Congress regarding the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs.

On July 28, NPR reported that the Justice Department had released the findings of a year-long investigation, concluding that senior officials in the department used illegal political considerations when hiring employees. Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey commented on the report: “I have said many times, both to members of the public and to department employees, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in hiring of career department employees.”

The Carpetbagger Blog comments on the partisan hiring practices as detailed by the recent report, including the news that a highly-qualified counterterrorism official was not chosen because of his wife’s political views. “This, of course, a) is insane; and b) necessarily undermined our national security interests.” The entry goes on to say, “the politicization of the Justice Department has to rank right there on the list of the Bush administration’s most disgraceful scandals. Top three, easy.”

Marty Kaplan of The Huffington Post jokes about the findings of the Justice report indicating that Goodling and Sampson asked job candidates, "What is it About George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?" Kaplan suggests an alternative question for the future should be a fill-in-the-blank: "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to _____ him?"

The York Daily Record, a newspaper from Monica Goodling’s home county, recounts Goodling’s life growing up and gauges the local reaction to her implication in the scandal. Goodling’s mother told the newspaper that her daughter is honest. “That part of her daughter's personality has remained constant throughout her life. But other than that, a lot has changed since Goodling was a bookish girl living outside York Haven.”

The U.S. Department of Justice provides the newest report in PDF format entitled, “An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General.”